Escorts

While we were in the cafe at Stockton having lunch after our walk I noticed four tugs sailing towards the bulk carrier First Penguin to escort her into the Port of Newcastle.

Three of the tugs had just steered the Sudestada out of the port to the open ocean and the tugs then sat waiting for the channel to clear before escorting the First Penguin into the Hunter River.

Thanks for your comments on yesterday's photo, sorry I am a bit absent at the moment but having a busy time here right now.

I will hopefully get chance to catch up this evening.

[Issi Bannerman]

Lovely capture of all these boats at work.

[Kartia]

What a great shot. It is a much busier waterway than I realised.

[Annie D]

great shot Babs

[Wylie]

I guess they want to be pretty careful around there after the disaster a few years ago!

[Diana]

Such a great capture with so much to see, there seems to be quite a lot happening on the Hunter river.

[Dianne]

A terrific image.

[Kathy A]

Such hard working tugs!

[Susan Wakely]

Such small boats with a very important job.

[Peter]

The tugs give a sense of scale to the ship well spotted and captured Babs:)

[Joan Robillard]

Sounds like a busy harbor

[leggzy]

A great capture of the tugs in action

[Beryl Lloyd]

Great shot of the bulk carrier with the tugs like busy bees around her !!

[Valerie Chesney]

Fab. capture with all the little tugs surrounding her. A busy seaway there Babs.

[Casablanca]

Like little flies buzzing around the big ship

[Esther Rosenberg]

Incredible strength have those little tug boats.

[Pam]

Terrific shot! It is amazing how big that carrier is..

[Merrelyn]

I don't get to see it very often, but I love watching tugs at work.

[LManning (Laura)]

Great marine scene.

[Tunia McClure]

Those little tugs do a lot of work.

[carol white]

Great capture

[Jacqueline]

Great action shot!

[bkb in the city]

Great capture

[Ann H. LeFevre]

They had a busy day- but it must be an exciting job in a way. Great shot!

[Babs]

@jamibann @annied @dide @kjarn @wakelys @pcoulson @leggzy @beryl @happysnaps @casablanca @dutchothotmailcom @pamalama @merrelyn @ljmanning @tunia @carolmw @jacqbb @bkbinthecity @olivetreeann Thanks, I love watching the tugs as they help steer the large ships into the port. They also have the Newcastle pilot to steer the ships in too as the channel is so shallow. It must be an expensive business for the ship having to pay four tugs and a pilot to steer them in and out of Newcastle.

@kartia @pusspup @joansmor It is a very busy waterway. Luckily it was a calm day so no risk of a disaster. The channel is dredged every day to remove silt because the Hunter River is so shallow

[Jane Pittenger]

Hard working tugs

[bruni]

A big carrier needs four tug boats. Wow. I've been on many cruises where we were guided by only two tugboats.

[Lou Ann]

Wonderful that your shipping commerce is strong. Such an important part of the supply chain.

[Bill]

Nice half and half shot. Those tugs are so small compared to the size of the shipping vessel.

[Rick]

Great capture.

[haskar]

Lovely shot.

[eDorre]

Love the big and small aspect